General Colin Powell

Chairman (Ret), Joint Chiefs of Staf

A Leadership Primer
Presented by
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
 LESSON 1

"Being responsible sometimes means pissing people o

Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, w

means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions.
inevitable, if you're honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a
of mediocrity: you'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confrontin
people who need to be confronted, and you'll avoid ofering diferenti
rewards based on diferential performance because some people mig
get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by try
not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally "nicely" reg
of their contributions, you'll simply ensure that the only people you'll
up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organ
 LESSON 2

"The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the

day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost
confidence that you can help them or concluded that you
do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."

If this were a litmus test, the majority of CEOs would fail. One, they bu
many barriers to upward communication that the very idea of someone
in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous. Two, the
corporate culture they foster often defines asking for help as weakness
failure, so people cover up their gaps, and the organization sufers acc
Real leaders make themselves accessible and available. They show co
for the eforts and challenges faced by underlings, even as they deman
standards. Accordingly, they are more likely to create an environment
problem analysis replaces blame.
 LESSON 3

"Don't be bufaloed by experts and elites. Experts often

possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so
inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death
as soon as they are nicked by the real world."

Small companies and start-ups don't have the time for analytically det
experts. They don't have the money to subsidize lofty elites, either. T
president answers the phone and drives the truck when necessary; ev
on the payroll visibly produces and contributes to bottom-line results o
history. But as companies get bigger, they often forget who "brought
the dance": things like all-hands involvement, egalitarianism, informal
market intimacy, daring, risk, speed, agility. Policies that emanate from
ivory towers often have an adverse impact on the people out in the fie
who are fighting the wars or bringing in the revenues. Real leaders ar
vigilant, and combative, in the face of these trends.
 LESSON 4

"Don't be afraid to challenge the pros,

even in their own backyard."

Learn from the pros, observe them, seek them out as mentors and pa
But remember that even the pros may have leveled out in terms of th
learning and skills. Sometimes even the pros can become complacen
lazy. Leadership does not emerge from blind obedience to anyone. X
Barry Rand was right on target when he warned his people that if you
a yes-man working for you, one of you is redundant. Good leadership
encourages everyone's evolution.
 LESSON 5

"Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled

or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant."
Strategy equals execution. All the great ideas and visions in the world
worthless if they can't be implemented rapidly and efficiently. Good le
delegate and empower others liberally, but they pay attention to detai
day. (Think about supreme athletic coaches like Jimmy Johnson, Pat Ri
and Tony La Russa). Bad ones, even those who fancy themselves as
progressive "visionaries," think they're somehow "above" operational d
Paradoxically, good leaders understand something else: an obsessive r
in carrying out the details begets conformity and complacency, which i
dulls everyone's mind. That is why even as they pay attention to deta
continually encourage people to challenge the process. They implicitly
understand the sentiment of CEO leaders like Quad Graphic's Harry
Quadracchi, Oticon's Lars Kolind and the late Bill McGowan of MCI, who
independently asserted that the Job of a leader is not to be the chief or
but the chief dis-organizer.
 LESSON 6

"You don't know what you can get away with until you

You know the expression, "it's easier to get forgiveness than permissio
it's true. Good leaders don't wait for official blessing to try things out.
prudent, not reckless. But they also realize a fact of life in most organi
if you ask enough people for permission, you'll inevitably come up aga
someone who believes his job is to say "no." So the moral is, don't ask
efective middle managers endorsed the sentiment, "If I haven't explic
told 'yes,' I can't do it," whereas the good ones believed, "If I haven't e
been told 'no,' I can." There's a world of diference between these two
of view.
 LESSON 7

"Keep looking below surface appearances.

Don't shrink from doing so (just) because you
might not like what you find."

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the slogan of the complacent, the arroga
scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms. It's a mind-set t
assumes (or hopes) that today's realities will continue tomorrow in a ti
and predictable fashion. Pure fantasy. In this sort of culture, you won'
people who pro-actively take steps to solve problems as they emerge.
a little tip: don't invest in these companies.
 LESSON 8

"Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans

don't accomplish anything, either. Theories of management
don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of
the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will
you accomplish great deeds."

In a brain-based economy, your best assets are people. We've heard

expression so often that it's become trite. But how many leaders reall
the talk" with this stuf? Too often, people are assumed to be empty c
pieces to be moved around by grand viziers, which may explain why s
top managers immerse their calendar time in deal making, restructuri
the latest management fad. How many immerse themselves in the go
creating an environment where the best, the brightest, the most creat
attracted, retained and, most importantly, unleashed?
 LESSON 9

"Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to n

Organization charts are frozen, anachronistic photos in a work place th

to be as dynamic as the external environment around you. If people re
followed organization charts, companies would collapse. In well-run
organizations, titles are also pretty meaningless. At best, they advertis
some authority, an official status conferring the ability to give orders a
induce obedience. But titles mean little in terms of real power, which i
capacity to influence and inspire. Have you ever noticed that people w
personally commit to certain individuals who on paper (or on the organ
chart) possess little authority, but instead possess pizzazz, drive, expe
and genuine caring for teammates and products? On the flip side, non
in management may be formally anointed with all the perks and frills
associated with high positions, but they have little influence on others,
from their ability to extract minimal compliance to minimal standards.
 LESSON 10

"Never let your ego get so close to your position that

when your position goes, your ego goes with it."

Too often, change is stifled by people who cling to familiar turfs and j
descriptions. One reason that even large organizations wither is that
managers won't challenge old, comfortable ways of doing things. Bu
real leaders understand that, nowadays, every one of our jobs is bec
obsolete. The proper response is to obsolete our activities before som
else does. Efective leaders create a climate where peoples worth is
determined by their willingness to learn new skills and grab new
responsibilities, thus perpetually reinventing their jobs. The most
important question in performance evaluation becomes not, "How we
did you perform your job since the last time we met?" but, "How muc
did you change it?"
 LESSON 11

"Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management

fads. The situation dictates which approach best
accomplishes the team's mission."

Flitting from fad to fad creates team confusion, reduces the leader's cr
and drains organizational cofers. Blindly following a particular fad ge
rigidity in thought and action. Sometimes speed to market is more im
than total quality. Sometimes an unapologetic directive is more appro
than participatory discussion. Some situations require the leader to h
closely; others require long, loose leashes. Leaders honor their core v
but they are flexible in how they execute them. They understand that
management techniques are not magic mantras but simply tools to be
reached for at the right times.
 LESSON 12

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."

The ripple efect of a leader's enthusiasm and optimism is awesome. S

impact of cynicism and pessimism. Leaders who whine and blame eng
those same behaviors among their colleagues. I am not talking about
accepting organizational stupidity and performance incompetence with
me worry?" smile. I am talking about a gung-ho attitude that says "we
change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the be
Spare me the grim litany of the "realist," give me the unrealistic aspira
of the optimist any day.
 LESSON 13

"Powell's Rules for Picking People:

Look for intelligence and judgment, and most critically,
a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also
look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced
ego, and the drive to get things done.
How often do our recruitment and hiring processes tap into these attrib
More often than not, we ignore them in favor of length of resume, degr
prior titles. A string of job descriptions a recruit held yesterday seem t
more important than who one is today, what they can contribute tomo
how well their values mesh with those of the organization. You can tra
bright, willing novice in the fundamentals of your business fairly readily
it's a lot harder to train someone to have integrity, judgment, energy, b
and the drive to get things done. Good leaders stack the deck in their
right in the recruitment phase.
 LESSON 14

"Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers,

who can cut through argument, debate and doubt,
to ofer a solution everybody can understand."

Efective leaders understand the KISS principle, Keep It Simple, Stupid.

articulate vivid, over-arching goals and values, which they use to drive
behaviors and choices among competing alternatives. Their visions an
priorities are lean and compelling, not cluttered and buzzword-laden. T
decisions are crisp and clear, not tentative and ambiguous. They conv
unwavering firmness and consistency in their actions, aligned with the
of the future they paint. The result: clarity of purpose, credibility of lea
and integrity in organization.
 LESSON 15

Part I: "Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands

for the probability of success and the numbers indicate
the percentage of information acquired.
Part II: "Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range,
go with your gut."

Don't take action if you have only enough information to give you less
40 percent chance of being right, but don't wait until you have enough
be 100 percent sure, because by then it is almost always too late. Tod
excessive delays in the name of information-gathering breeds "analysi
paralysis." Procrastination in the name of reducing risk actually increa
 LESSON 16

"The commander in the field is always right and the

rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise."

Too often, the reverse defines corporate culture. This is one of the mai
reasons why leaders like Ken Iverson of Nucor Steel, Percy Barnevik of
Brown Boveri, and Richard Branson of Virgin have kept their corporate
to a bare-bones minimum - how about fewer than 100 central corporat
stafers for global $30 billion-plus ABB? Or around 25 and 3 for multi-b
Nucor and Virgin, respectively? Shift the power and the financial accou
to the folks who are bringing in the beans, not the ones who are counti
or analyzing them.
 LESSON 17

"Have fun in your command. Don't always run at

a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it:
Spend time with your families.
Corollary: surround yourself with people who take their
work seriously, but not themselves, those who work
hard and play hard."

Herb Kelleher of Southwest Air and Anita Roddick of The Body Shop wo
agree: seek people who have some balance in their lives, who are fun
out with, who like to laugh (at themselves, too) and who have some no
priorities which they approach with the same passion that they do the
Spare me the grim workaholic or the pompous pretentious "profession
I'll help them find jobs with my competitor.
 LESSON 18

"Command is lonely."

Harry Truman was right. Whether you're a CEO or the temporary hea
project team, the buck stops here. You can encourage participative
management and bottom-up employee involvement, but ultimately t
essence of leadership is the willingness to make the tough, unambigu
choices that will have an impact on the fate of the organization. I've
too many non-leaders flinch from this responsibility. Even as you crea
an informal, open, collaborative corporate culture, prepare to be lone
Leadership is the art of accomplishing
more than the science of management
says is possible.